Prime Healthcare says Joliet hospital losing $90 million a year

Prime Healthcare, which recently acquired Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, said the hospital has been losing about $90 million a year in a response to letters from Illinois senators about cuts at the hospital.

“Joliet was in financial distress, with annual losses of nearly $90 million prior to the acquisition,” according to the letter.

Prime pointed to losses at the hospital in justifying its decision to end inpatient pediatric services at the Joliet hospital.

The California-based company that acquired Saint Joseph Medical Center and seven other Illinois hospitals from Ascension in March has previously said that the hospitals were losing $200 million a year. The letter released Thursday was the first statement of how much of those losses were coming from Joliet.

“In order to ensure the long-term viability of the hospital and its ability to serve the greatest good, resources should be allocated to services that ensure quality and address community needs,” according to the letter.

The letter from Prime Healthcare, shared with the media, was in response to a letter from U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth questioning cuts made at hospitals that Prime now owns in Illinois.

The losses in Joliet would amount to almost half of the $200 million in losses that Prime said were experienced at Ascension hospitals in Illinois that it took over in March.

Durbin and Duckworth publicized their letter questioning Prime Healthcare’s cuts when it was sent last month.

“Prime Healthcare has a unique mission: to save and improve financially distressed hospitals that care for the most vulnerable patients, with a significantly high percentage being persons using Medicare and Medicaid,” Prime Healthcare Chairman and CEO Prem Reddy said in response to the senators’ letter.

Prime no longer is providing inpatient care for patients 17 and younger in Joliet, saying its pediatric ward saw fewer than one patient a day.

Saint Joseph Medical Center had about 200 admissions for pediatric care in 2024, Reddy said.

“Lack of need was a critical factor in our decision to reallocate resources to higher-demand services and ensure quality,” he said in the letter.

“Saint Joseph’s–Joliet was in financial distress, with annual losses of nearly $90 million prior to the acquisition," Reddy said. “In order to ensure the long-term viability of the hospital and its ability to serve the greatest good, resources should be allocated to services that ensure quality and address community needs. The pediatric service did neither, and continuing the service would compromise both quality and sustainability.”

Prime Healthcare also has stopped delivering babies at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee.

“Nearly all hospitals acquired by Prime were in insolvency or approaching closure prior to acquisition,” Reddy said in the letter.